Michael Vartan
Birth name	Michael Vartan
Born	November 27, 1968 (1968-11-27) (age 38) Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Michael Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is an American[1] film and television actor.

Biography

Early life

Vartan was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France to Doris (née Pucher), a painter and artist, and Eddie Vartan, a musician.[2][3] His paternal aunt is singer Sylvie Vartan and his step-father is writer Ian La Frenais.[4] Vartan's father is a Bulgarian of part Armenian descent and Vartan's mother is an American Jew originally from Poland;[5][6][7][8] Vartan has said that he does not have "an ounce of French blood", and is a "Polish Jew who happens to be born in France".[5] His parents divorced when he was five and he moved to America with his mother.[9] He moved back to France to be with his father until his high school years, and grew up a "farm kid" in a "simple environment"[8] in Fleury, a small town in the French countryside.[10][9] At the age of eighteen, Vartan moved back in with his mother in Los Angeles, telling her that he wanted to be an artist,[11] because he did not wish to fulfill the mandatory military service required in France.[8] In Los Angeles, he attended an acting school after he was told he possessed acting talent. Vartan now considers himself to be American.[1]

Career

After many minor film roles, Vartan had noticeable supporting roles in major movies, including Never Been Kissed (1999), One Hour Photo (2002) and Monster-in-Law (2005). He has recently finished filming for the Australian horror film, Rogue, and is currently working on Jolene, slated for release later in 2007. Vartan's most notable role to date has been as Michael Vaughn in the American television series Alias (2001â€"2006). After appearing as a regular cast member through the first four seasons of the series, Vartan returned as a guest star in a limited number of episodes, after his character's apparent death was revealed to have been a ruse. He appeared as Vaughn in Sydney Bristow's dream in one episode, and beginning with the episode broadcast on April 19, 2006, he appeared in all remaining episodes.

Vartan has also had guest appearances on Friends (as Dr. Tim Burke, Tom Selleck's character's son), Ally McBeal (as Jonathan Basset), and also Kitchen Confidential (as a rival French chef) starring his former Alias co-star Bradley Cooper.

Vartan is bilingual in English and French.

Filmography

References

External links

• Michael Vartan at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Vartan at the Notable Names Database
• Michael Vartan at TV.com